Spam is junk mail we receive on our computers.
It is usually mail we have no interest in receiving.
By opening it, we waste time we could be spending on something else.
Also, the same spam is often sent to us repeatedly.
We become annoyed and feel that our privacy is being violated.
Even worse, spam often carries a malicious virus intended to infect our computers.

ANTI-SPAM

Generally, mail which is possible spam is filtered by our e-mail
so, if we’re not interested, we don’t have to waste time reading it
or being irritated by it.
This filter is a valuable aid.
Don’t be fooled, just as in any other sphere of life,
the internet is also crammed with misleading advertising intended to fool you.

SPAM IN REAL LIFE

The ‘spam’ in other spheres of life is a sacrifice we make
for living in a consumer society.
In a consumer society, you will have to tolerate unsolicited and unwanted messages
which contain biased and manipulated ‘facts’
intended to fool you.

Their aim is to sell you things. Nothing more.
And usually things you do not need.
Why, otherwise, would you waste time wondering whether you should travel to the Maldives?
After all, you cannot afford such a holiday.
Yet the publicity is there for anyone who cares to read it.
Just for a moment, imagine all the adverts you read or hear in a day.
God, what a waste of valuable time and energy …..

Sometimes they are campaigns for a particular brand, flaunted by a well-known personality.
That person may or may not be honourable.
What about the brand itself? Is the company that produced it honourable?
What about an institution, and its image?
Is it clean? And what is the true motive for its campaign?

There are media which blatantly promote a particular candidate,
and urge you to vote for that candidate.
From then on, they will only speak highly of that candidate,
and negatively of his/her opponent.
Where is the objective information in all of this?
Even wars can be ‘sold’ by promoting patriotism, and economic interests.
And the truth is the first thing to be lost in combat.

Sometimes certain products will be promoted
by the inclusion of consumer’s opinions.
Of course, these will concur with the objective of the advert,
and will be distorted in such a way as to fool you into buying the product.

THE CITIZEN HARASSED BY SPAM

As citizens, our needs are quite simple – to live in peace,
to enjoy our personal lives, and to raise our families.
Yet daily, we are harangued by our responsibilities as consumers and voters,
responsibilities we don’t want to be reminded of every minute of every day.
But, thanks to the stress of modern life,
we often allow others to think for us.
Advertising and publicity feed on this.
Advertising is aggressive and manipulative, abusive,
and has no scruples in fooling you while benefiting someone else.
If you are not aware of these dangers, you will be fooled
into buying unnecessary products,
maybe even products tainted by the sweat of child labour,
or those produced at the expense of the environment,
or those which perpetuate unjust and/or unsustainable economic or political systems.
Advertising may even coerce you into voting for corrupt candidates
who do not really have society’s interests at heart,
but are in it for personal aggrandizement.

...

OUR MENTAL ANTI-SPAM

Thankfully, most of us have an inherent ‘anti-spam’
which allows us to see and hear adverts selectively,
to filter out the rubbish and the overwhelming publicity.
We may even reject TV adverts by changing to another channel.
We do this quite effortlessly, as though we have become immune to it all.
But don’t be fooled into complacency,
the advertisers are fully aware of our mental anti-spam abilities.

THE REACTION OF THE SPAM

The spam forces have not given up,
they have merely changed their tactics.
They have refined their methods, and armed themselves with new technology
to dilute our spam filters.
Large corporations with large budgets and huge money
have realized that their publicity has to change.
So, they have employed psychologists, scientists, and other specialists to fool us.
Governments have entered this field,
and ‘news’ is disseminated by companies who manufacture news.
Now, ‘they’ decide what our topics of conversation will be,
and ‘news’ is packaged in much the same way as clothes are.
Opinions, attitudes, and beliefs are sponsored by ‘big’ money
which are not towards the common good.

Today, there are people who earn their living by fooling you.

YOU HAVE TO IMPROVE YOUR MENTAL ANTI-SPAM ABILITY

Campaigning – be it advertising or publicity is on the offensive,
and you need to protect yourself by improving your mental anti-spam.
Do not allow them to deceive you.

1. Cultivate your critical spirit
2. Do not allow others to think for you.
3. Imitate scientists: ask for proof.
4. A single experiment does not constitute fact. Demand more.
5. Being sceptical may save you from disappointment.
6. Change the way you process information, don’t just accept what you’re told:
7. Be selective, compare information from different sources, and make sure they are credible.
8. Be wary of information overload …..
9. And decide for yourself which subjects are of interest to you: don’t let others decide for you.
10. If a politician lies to you, do not vote for him.

COUNSEL

Today, credible information is like freedom.
You have to fight for it.

Mikel Martinez Anton, diagnosed as in intermediate level schizoid from childhood. Was in a religious seminary, from the age 12 to 25; then graduated in Psychology by the University Complutense of Madrid. His condition has been permanent source of discomfort. Married, no children.
In April 2002 received the diagnosis: Neurasthenia (ICD-10: F-48) and Personality Disorder Schizoid type (ICD-10: F 60.1) " [degree medium). At 52, with chronic fatigue is removed. He lives in the city where
was born: Bilbao, Spain.